Combined accelerator pad and heel rest



Jan. 9, i923.

1,441,453 G. H. RIVES.

COME lNED AccELERAToR PAD AND HEEL REST FILED OcT. 2l,v 1919.

Patented dan. 9, 1923,

- hasta GEORGE RIVES, NEW YORK, N. Y. i

COMBINED .accsnnnn'roa Prin arm HEEL ausm.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that a citizen of the United States, and a resident of vNewYork, in the county of New York and State of N ew York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Accelerator ofwhichthe following is a full, clear,

exact specification. v n y. .This invention relates more particularly toa class ofdevices adapted to be used in conjunction with automobiles. vf My invention has for its object primarily and ' to provide a combinedaccelerator pad and of the pedal heel rest designed to be utilizedV onve hicles, such as automobiles. trucks and the like so that thechauffeur of the vehicle may operate the'acceleratcr pedal with therfoot without requiring itscontact with the pedal direct, in order toenable positive operation at all times since formations of pedals ofthis class arefsuch that the foot of the chauffeur `often slipstherefrom, v and the accelerator pedal, -furthermore, frequently becomeshighly heated, the device also serving i vent theshoe of thechaufeurfrom wearing by avoiding frictional contactof the shoev with the pedal.y These advantages are attained mainly by providing a protective cushionelement whichl is movably supported on the vehicle in normal engagementwith the raccelerator pedal to allow the foot of the chauffeur' to bepositioned thereon for operating the pedal by moving the cushT ion asoccasion requires. l

Otherfobjects of the invention are to provide a rest sotliat the heel ofthe shoes of the chauffeur may be comfortably supported when the forepartofthe foot is'nositioned on the protective cushion; toassociate withthe cushion and the heel rest means for permitting the cushion to beextensibly adjusted relative to the rest; to provide means whereby theheel rest may be hinged to the vehicle; and to provide an acceleratorpad and heel rest of a simple, eliicient and durable type adapted to bemade in any desired size and shape.

With these and other objects in view,'the invention will be hereinaftermore fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing forminga part of this specification in which similar characters ci1 reference.

indicate corresponding parts in all the l, GEORGE H. Rives,

Pad and Heel Rest,

the general to eectually` -pre-y Application med october 21, wie, yserial No; 332,195.

views, and will then be pointedout the,

claim at the end of thedescriptiolr.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view, partly indetail showing aportion of a vehicle with one form of my improvedaccelerator pad and heel rest applied thereto fer enabling theaccelerator pedal to be operated.

.Figi 2 is an enlarged top planof the device. -v

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line k3 3 of Fig. 2, and

. Fig. a is a detail sectional view taken on the line a-a of Fig. .3.

The device has a heel rest 10 which may be of any suitable shape andsize, though this rest preferably consists of a substantiallysemi-circular flat plate 11 with a flange 12 `protruding upwardly fromits curved edge and extendingv from the central part of the straightedge of the plate is 'an'arm or lug or shank as 13.' The plate 11 is of'a size tofreely accommodate the heel of the shoe of the chauffeur orperson operating the vehicle, and the flange 12 servestofpreventtendency of the heel to slip on the rest`10. Protruding downwardly fromthe side edges ofthe arm 13 may be two spaced flanges 14 and 15 toprovide a groove 16 extending lengthwise of this arm of the rest. On theunderside of the plate ll-centrally of its` flanged edge is bolted orotherwise secured, at 17,'one leaf, as 18, of

a hinge 19Vwhich may be of a commonly known form, and the second leaf 2Oof the hinge extends somewhat beyond the heel rest 10. The second leaf9.0 ofl the hinge 19r lmay be of any desired shape yor size, though theone illustrated is approximately oval or elliptic in shape, and thecushion is preferably composed of a plate 26 with `a `pad 2T made ofrubber or other resilient material. The pad Q7 is removably held to theics plate 26 by one or more metal clips, as 28, 29 and 30, which areprovided on the pad so thatl their ends extend beyond the edge of thepad, and following the arranging of the pad on the plate 26 the clipsare bent over the edge of the plate into engagement with its underside.

The protective cushion 25 is movably connected to the heel rest l0 sothat the cushion may be extensibly adjusted relative to the rest wherebyshoes of various sizes may be accommodated on the device, and serving asmeans to accomplish this, vextending from the plate 26 is a bar 31 whichis in the form of a fiat plate `having downwardly depending spacedflanges 32 and 33. rIhe bar 3l with its flanges are disposed in thegroove 16 between the anges ll and l5 of the arm 13 of the heel rest l0,and this bar is of a width so that it is freely movable in the groove.Through the central part of the bar 3l in proximity to its free end is'a slot 34 extending lengthwise of the bar, and .protruding through thisslot from the undervside of the arm 13 of the heel rest is a threadedpin or Ybolt 35. The free end ofthe bolt lprotrudes below the bar 3l,and on the free end of the bolt is a thumb nut, as 36, adapted to bescrewed .into engagement with the :bar for releasably locking the bar311 with the cushion 25 and the heel rest to-V gether. When it isdesired to extensibly adjust the cushion l25 .relative to 'the heel restlOthe nut 36 is loosened on the bolt 35 and the bar 3l with'the cushion25 are slidably moved back and 'forth with respectto the heel restaccording to the adjustment of the cushion 25 as maybe desired forproperly aocommodatingthe foot of the operator of the vehicle with thevheel positioned on the rest 10 'andthe fore :part of the rfoot arrangedon the resilient vpad so that by moving the foot accordingly the1accelerator pedal will be operated, as occasion requires. Thus asimple, eliicient and durable device is provided .whereby the chauffeurof an antomobile, truck and like vehicle may operate the acceleratorpedal without tendency of the foot slipping as well as avoiding damagetothe shoes of the chauffeur from wear as well as 'from the heat whenthe accelerator pedal becomes heated.

Inthe foregoing description, I have embodied the preferred yform of myinvention,

resinas but I do not wishto be understood as limiting myself thereto, asI am aware that modifications may be made therein without departing fromthe principle or sacrificing any .of the advantages of this invention,therefore I reserve to myself the right to malte such changes as fairlyfall within the scope thereof. Having thus described my invention, Iclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:`

In a combined foot rest and accelerator pedal, a heel portion having` anupwardly extending flange on the rear part thereof and downwardlyextending flanges on the forward part thereof, the upwardly extendingflange extending substantially throughout the path of a semi-circle soas to form a socket for the heel of shoe, `the yforward portions of thedownwardly extending flanges :being parallel so as to form aguijdeway, atwo part hinge having one lpafrt riveted to one side of the rear end of'the heel portion, the other part of said `hingey bein'g adapted to besecured to the `foot board of an automobile, a. toe portion -adjustablyconnected to the heel portion, said toe portion having downwardlyextending flanges on the rear part thereof adapted to slide within andto fit yclosely adjacent to zthe downwardly extending flanges on .theheel portion, a toe pad of resilient material mounted above theforwardend of said l:toe portion, upwardly extending flanges `on theforward end of said toe portion having their upper ends `bent down uponsaid tocfpad to hold it in place uponthe toe portion,;a strip of metalembedded in =the rear .part of the toe pad having its ends `passingthrough holes in said toe portion, said .toe :portion having a centrallyand longitudinally extending slot on the rear end thereof between thedownwardly extending Vflanges, a bolt extending lthrough the forward endof said heel portion, and a thumb screw on said bolt below the rear endof said toe port-ion for holding` the toe portion in any adjustedposition relative to the heel portion.

This specification signed and witnessed this 20th day of Gotober, A.13.1919.

\ GEORGE H. RIVES. Vitnesses:

A. ScU'rT, Il. FREDERICK CRY-nn.

